Crow's a tough kid. He's taken pleanty of beatings, gone without food, been thrown in jail, and recently seen some pretty disturbing stuff. And cracking jokes all along the way.

You hafta admit, that takes a pretty special kind of person. The kind of person that survives, covers his own tail. Always has, always will. Hey, he even took breaking his right wing like a man.

Point is, even though Hogan can be cocky . . . to put it nicely . . . He isn't a pushover. He's usually the one doing the pushing, actually.*

Crow's still a sweetheart, though, plain and simple. When Martha needs him, day or night, he'll be by her side in an hour. Tops.

. . .

A combination of bell-ringing and knocking wakes Martha up. She fumbles blindly for the light switch and runs downstairs.

'Whoever's out there must be in real trouble, coming here at . . . 4 o'clock?! Oh dear Lord, let the person you brought to me still be alive when I-'

The woman stops short when she sees exactly who's on her doorstep.

"C-Crow?! Child, what are you doing here at this hour? Did Yusei nearly get himself killed again? Did you break something? Now don't you hide from me boy-"

"Woah, woah, Martha, calm down. I'm here about the plumbing, remember? Couple of pipes burst, didn't they? And here," the scavenger holds up a large paper bag, filled to the brim "I figured you could always use some extra food, 'specially 'round the holidays . . ."

The poor boy trails off when he realizes Martha's glaring at him.

"Not a stick of junk food in the whole bag, I swear-!" the wizened woman chuckles, cutting the duelist off.

"That's not it, Crow. It's just that no one would come to this place at such an ungodly hour unless there was trouble. And when I saw you standin' there . . . Well . . . I was worried. Real worried."

The Blackwing User's face becomes impassive, though he's betrayed by the sound of his feet shuffling across the porch.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that Martha, it's just . . . You know . . . It ain't easy out here in the Satelite, we all know that . . . An' . . . well, sometimes it feels like I abandoned those kids. I know you're still around . . . but . . . I've been with most of 'em since they first got here . . ." Crow looks down at his boots.

"Then you up and leave us to go help Yusei." Martha doesn't need to be a telepath to know what the boy is feeling, it's written across his face.

Guilty as Sin.

Crow smirks "Heh, nailed it. I guess the kids haven't let you lose your touch."

The Ones you left behind.

"Oh, Crow . . ." Martha, forgiving, sweet, almost omniscient Martha, pulls the boy into a hug.

Don't worry about it kiddo.

"M-Martha?! What're ya doin'?"

We, I, know how much you missed us.

"You were gone so long, some of the little ones, they could hardly remember your face. And Molly, you remember her? Oh, of course you do" Martha corrects herself before Crow can absorb this comment.

But please, PLEASE

"Every day, right before bed, she always asks . . . asks 'when's daddy coming home?'. I swear on high she shocked me senseless the first time she said it. Nearly burst into tears the second . . ." Crow looks away from his foster-mother, guilty as can be.

Don't leave us for so long again.

Martha takes the duelist's chin, lightly, in her hand, making him look her directly in the eye.

I know you're needed elsewhere.

"Now listen here, boy, and listen good" the woman puts on her fiercest expression.

But we need you HERE too.

"Go on and fix the plumbing, now that you've woken up half the household" her eyes twinkle merrily, betraying her little joke.

I need you here.

"And take your time! We've got some new arrivals that could use a decent welcoming a dose of Hogan charm!"

Ya old alley cat.

. . .

Please note that I mean this in a good way. He's mostly egging someone on to grow a backbone. Or, in the worst-case scenario, to do a stupid dare. But the man is in no way malicious.*